Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary Celebration in Morocco

Earth Day, one of the trendiest international events, takes place in the Moroccan capital of Rabat from April 17 to 24. Hosting the 40th anniversary celebrations of Earth Day has been deemed a pride and joy among Moroccans especially because Rabat will be a premier African and Arab city and one of six world cities to lead celebrations for Earth Day celebrations.The other cities are: New York,Washington,Shanghai,Rome and Mumbai.

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On this ocasion Prince Moulay Rachid and Princess Lalla Hasna chairwoman of the Mohammed VI Foundation for the Protection of the Environment presided over on Thursday the Earth Day celebration.The ceremonies featured the signing of five international conventions in the field of environment protection.

Moroccan cabinet ministers presented a range of environmental projects for the future – to repair the desertification caused by forest over-exploitation, place artificial reefs to protect marine ecosystems use the methane gas from a landfil to generate clean energy eradicate plastic bags and foster an eco-school.

Then Princess Hasna hosted a celebratory dinner Among the guests were Jean-Louis Borloo, French minister of ecology energy and sustainable development mayors of foreign cities Moroccan government ministers and other officials.

On Saturday April 17 the princess presided over the official inauguration ceremony of an ecological space in the esplanade of the Oudayas in Rabat on the occasion of the Earth Day celebrations.She visited exhibition spaces along the path beside Bouregreg River which hosts a solar panel a windmill and a truck of Morocco’s National Meteorological office used to measure air quality.

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In March Princess Hasna visited Washington DC for a ceremony presenting Rabat as a premier city for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.She said that Morocco’s recent $9 billion investment in solar energy demonstrates the country’s ongoing dedication to harnessing renewable energy to build a green economy.

By 2020 Morocco expects to have renewable energies account for 42 percent of the country’s total power installed this major solar project will reduce by 3.7 million tons the emissions of carbon dioxide per year the princess said.

The American Earth Day Network’s decision to host celebrations of the event in Morocco is a recognition and reward for the efforts made by kingdom towards environmental protection and the promotion of sustainable development.in this context the Kingdom of Morocco announced an unprecedented National Charter for Environment and Sustainable Development,the first commitment of its kind in Africa and the first in the Arab World.The charter will guide policy in the country and future laws on natural resources, the environment and sustainability.

The King of Morocco Mohammed VI spearheaded the National Charter for Environment and Sustainable Development which has undergone a nationwide public consultative process and will form the framework for national environmental laws.